CONVICT ACCUSED OF PAYING AN ADDICT TO SERVE HIS SENTENCE

ATLANTA -- Federal authorities aren't used to people trying to sneak into
prison. So Pierre Carlton had no trouble fooling them.

Carlton agreed to serve another man's 20-month prison sentence after he was
promised cash and free crack, authorities say. He spent 15 months posing as
Dexter Mathis, and proved to be a model prisoner who earned a high school
equivalency degree, kicked a drug habit and spent most of his time reading.

He was 47 days from being released early for good behavior when he got sick
of pretending and didn't show up at a halfway house.

Since then, authorities have found the real Mathis, who allegedly cooked up
the scheme when he was out on bail after pleading guilty to receiving
$2,762 in proceeds from a bank robbery. Mathis is back in jail and has
pleaded not guilty to additional conspiracy charges.

Mathis' lawyer, Steven Berne, said his client was only trying to help Carlton.

"Mr. Carlton had a drug addiction, and Mr. Mathis educated him on the
benefits of drug treatment in prison,'' Berne said Thursday. ``This was a
decision made by Mr. Carlton.''

Authorities say Mathis was Carlton's drug supplier and was able to persuade
him to serve his sentence by offering him cash and free crack after his
release.

On June 7, 1999, Mathis drove Carlton to the U.S. Marshal's office where
Carlton, who had memorized Mathis' biographical information, turned himself in.

Carlton is 32 and Mathis is 31 but the two men don't look much alike.
Mathis is 6-foot-3 and weighs more than 200 pounds; Carlton is at least
four inches shorter.

"The only thing they have in common is they're both black males,'' said
Paul Kish, Carlton's lawyer.

It was unclear whether federal prison officials compared Carlton's
fingerprints to Mathis'. A spokesman for the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta
said prison officials rely on federal marshals to deliver the correct inmate.

While Carlton was behind bars, Mathis pumped $500 to $1,000 into his prison
account. And Carlton, who already had a high school equivalency diploma,
pursued another one because he was bored.

The ruse unraveled Sept. 27, when Carlton was put on a bus and ordered to
report to an Atlanta halfway house for the final seven weeks of the
sentence. He never showed up.

A week later, an FBI agent investigating a bank robbery spotted a car with
tags that were traced to an alias once used by Mathis. He followed up and
found the real Dexter Mathis.

After authorities realized Mathis was not the man who had spent 15 months
in prison, he was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and
is now serving his original sentence.

Carlton has pleaded guilty for his role and will probably face probation,
Kish said.

"I was hoping I was going to head out of prison either clean and sober or
either have me drugs,'' Carlton told a judge.